On Religion...
I hear and read many people calling themselves atheists, and just out of some combination of curiosity and intense interest wonder how many of them are actually agnostic.
So many people confuse the two because unfortunately agnosticism is frequently folded under atheism by many of the loudest voices. But there is a very important difference between them.
In short (at the risk of criminally generalizing an important topic): an atheist believes there are no dieties in existence, while agnostics believe such an existence is unkowable or is at least not know to them.
The latter of the latter is where I file myself, as an “open agnostic”.
To me this means: I have no idea what the hell is going on, but I will listen to any argument, discussion, or case presented me to some extent to help me find out.
In other words: my faith is on the market. The first superhuman thing to present itself to me gets my vote.
If Jesus and the aliens happen to knock on my door at the same time, my faith will go to the winner of a best-of-seven tetherball series.
It wasn’t always this way. As a matter of fact: I was at one point on my way into ministry as some of you know. I lost that faith in the process for all kinds of reasons, as many of us have. Intolerance was one of the most significant.
So I’m as open-minded as they come in this arena, but that’s because it suits me and where I am in life.
Faith is a very personal matter, and I never criticize anyone else’s. If you want to believe Voltron determines which people get sick, then do it. Just don’t expect others to. More importantly: don’t demand they do.
…but if you wanted to tell me about it, I’d still listen.
I call myself an Atheist because I am pretty sure that no religious concept ever constructed makes any sense. Now, “pretty sure” might qualify as an agnostic approach for some, it might even be unreasonable to pretend you know there is no such entity; but facing believers™ an approach as “I’m not sure, but I’m open” is weak ground for debate.
